The AFRM's keynote lecture was named the George Burniston Oration soon after our incorporation into the RACP, as part of our efforts to showcase our history and pay homage to our founders.

About George Burniston

George Garrett Burniston was born in Sydney in 1914. He was educated at Sydney High School and the University of Sydney, from where he graduated MBBS in 1939. He came from humble beginnings to become an architect of rehabilitation for persons with disability in Australia. Through his involvement in international organisations, he influenced the policy-making decisions within the United Nations and in the area of international rehabilitation.

After graduation, George was a resident medical officer at Hornsby Hospital for two years before being commissioned as a flight lieutenant in the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) Medical Services. He also served in Great Britain with the Royal Air Force (RAF) where he met pioneers in orthopaedic surgery, neurosurgery and plastic surgery early in his postgraduate career.

Very early in his career he became aware that unless there was an outcome policy for the treatment of severely injured people, then excellent medical care did not always result in their return to a productive life.

George referred to the field of rehabilitation medicine as the “Cinderella” of medical specialties. Through his perseverance it became recognised as a principal speciality, offering a career structure for young doctors whom he encouraged to enter it. As well as doctors, he also encouraged allied health professionals to pursue a career in this area.

He described himself as a fatalist but fate played little role in his determination to place rehabilitation both in the broader context and in the specialty of rehabilitation medicine onto a firm footing in Australia.

For his work in rehabilitation of the handicapped, he was awarded an OBE (1969) and CMG (1972). He was a Foundation Diplomate in Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine of the Australian Postgraduate Federation in Medicine in 1970. He was elected a member of the Royal Society of Medicine (1972) and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Health in 1973. George served as a member of the WHO Expert Panel on Medical Rehabilitation for over 20 years and was a member, later vice-president, of the Council of the Australian Council for Rehabilitation of the Disabled until 1973. He was also an advisor to the National Specialist Qualification Advisory Committee.

Keynote speakers